Cash-strapped cashier court in the act

Reaching retirement with debts hanging over your head would make anyone feel uneasy. The Royal Courts of Justice’s former chief cashier Keith Buxton decided to do something about it, which led to him stealing nearly £10,000 from the court to clear credit card bills before retiring.

Buxton managed to get caught with his hands in the till after a crime spree that started on 6 July 2005 and ended on 31 October 2006.

It led to Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC last week (10 March) jailing the South East Londoner for six months. The former civil servant, who’d been in service for 17 years, also had four months to pay £5,000 compensation to Her Majesty’s Court Service or serve another three months behind bars.

While sentencing, Rivlin explained how Buxton managed to get caught out: “[I] take into account the fact these offences were clearly unsophisticated, and, as your counsel rightly said, inevitably the paper trail led to you and your own bank account.”Whoops.